Best Tom Galvin Pedro Monteiro Rohin Borpujari Greetje Corporaal Catherine Jackson Miranda Lewis Leonardo Melo Lins Samantha Ortiz Casillas Sarah Otner Ralph Soule Frithjof Wegener Podcasts (2024)

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Please buy us a coffee! 2:39

7d ago2:39

2:39

Talking About Organizations has always been a free resource, available to students and scholars of organizations and management for almost 10 years now! Unfortunately, it is not free to produce, so we are turning to you, our listeners, to please help us keep the show on air, ad free, and without any paywalls! If you value the work that we do, pleas…

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112: Hierarchies & Promotion -- The "Peter Principle" (Part 2) 46:29

11d ago46:29

46:29

We conclude our look at Lawrence Peter’s The Peter Principle by discussing why the Principle is timeless is its quality. Our contemporary experiences with hierarchies may have changed due to greater mobility of workers, but the Principle itself provokes our thinking about management. We also discuss how Peter used satire to present his points and w…

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112: Hierarchies & Promotion -- The "Peter Principle" (Part 1) 47:33

18d ago47:33

47:33

The diligent administrative assistant moves up to supervisor but fails. The assembly line worker is promoted to foreman but cannot do the job. A teacher earns a deputy principal position in a school but falls flat on their face. Why is that? Why does this seem to happen across organizations? In The Peter Principle, Lawrence J. Peter and Raymond Hul…

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112: Hierarchies & Promotion -- The "Peter Principle" (Summary of Episode) 4:05

18d ago4:05

4:05

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111: Visible & Invisible Work -- Susan Leigh Star (Part 2) 41:47

1M ago41:47

41:47

We conclude the episode by looking to the present day and how the negotiations over work visibility has evolved since the turn of the 21st century. Have the emergence of social media, emergence of general computing platforms over the proprietary systems from the 1990s, and increased competitive pressures driving quests for efficiency challenged or …

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111: Visible & Invisible Work -- Susan Leigh Star (Part 1) 47:24

2M ago47:24

47:24

In this episode, we focus on the emerging discourse from the 1990s on how automated systems would potentially change the very meaning of work. The discussion is on a seminal work of Susan Leigh Star and co-author Anselm Strauss, “Layers of Silence, Arenas of Voice: The Ecology of Visible and Invisible Work,” published in CSCW’s flagship journal, Co…

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111: Visible & Invisible Work -- Susan Leigh Star (Summary of Epiosode) 3:06

2M ago3:06

3:06

We will discuss Susan Leigh Star’s “Layers of Silence, Arenas of Voice: The Ecology of Visible and Invisible Work,” published in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work in 1999. The article deals with the challenges and risks of automating work processes without due consideration of all the invisible work done in an organization that systems designers …

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110: Organizations and Law -- Lauren Edelman (Part 2) 43:48

2M ago43:48

43:48

Since Edelman’s two articles were published, a lot of research has followed into the ever-evolving environment engulfing organizations and the legal systems they operate under. It is more important to comply with the letter of the law or its intent? Why do organizations expend so much energy trying to avoid legal liability rather than pursue the in…

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110: Organizations and Law -- Lauren Edelman (Part 1) 46:47

3M ago46:47

46:47

In this episode, we explore two articles from Lauren Edelman, “Legal Ambiguity and Symbolic Structures: Organizational Mediation of Civil Rights Law” from 1992 and “The Endogeneity of Legal Regulation: Grievance Procedures as Rational Myth” from 1999. These studies showed a wide variety of organizational responses to the enactment of civil rights l…

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110: Organizations and Law -- Lauren Edelman (Summary of Episode) 4:11

3M ago4:11

4:11

Coming soon! We examine the works of Lauren Edelman who explored organizations and their responses to new laws that impact their relationships with employees. Using civil rights laws as an illustration, she shows how ambiguities in the law and unclear enforcement mechanisms contribute to organizations having to define and measure compliance themsel…

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109: Emergence of Mental Health Professions - Abbott (Part 2) 42:42

3M ago42:42

42:42

Professional competition both within the personal problems jurisdiction and from outside it (e.g., insurance and accounting) continued to shape the availability and quality of mental health care to the present day. Yet the landscape has changed – social stigmas against those seeking mental health care seem to have waned. Yet, the cost and lack of a…

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109: Emergence of Mental Health Professions - Abbott (Part 1) 47:27

3M ago47:27

47:27

In this episode, we return to Andrew Abbott’s The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor from 1989 to study in depth one of his case studies that may illuminate the present-day mental health crises gripping many nations from the COVID-19 pandemic. “The Construction of the Personal Problems Jurisdiction” chronicles how socia…

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109: Emergence of the Mental Health Professions - Abbott (Summary of Episode) 3:12

3M ago3:12

3:12

We return to Andrew Abbott’s System of Professions and examine the third of his case studies that informed his conceptual framework for understanding professional work and jurisdictional claims. “The Construction of the Personal Problems Jurisdiction” chronicled how social changes from the Industrial Revolution led to the maladjustment and isolatio…

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108: Presentation of Self in Everyday Life - Goffman (Part 2) 43:44

4M ago43:44

43:44

The 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman became a seminal text for several emergent subfields such as impression management and symbolic interactionism, while also greatly influences studies of organizational behavior. But it was also a product of its time, with its many examples and explanations rooted in societal …

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108: Presentation of Self in Everyday Life - Goffman (Part 1) 46:09

5M ago46:09

46:09

Erving Goffman’s 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life was an important attempt at explaining both apparent and hidden human behaviors across social and organizational settings. Through a comprehensive framework employing theater as a metaphor, he describes the roles of people as performers and members of an audience who try to shape …

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108: Presentation of Self in Everyday Life - Goffman (Summary of Episode) 3:59

5M ago3:59

3:59

Our next episode features Erving Goffman’s 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life that presents a comprehensive framework for understanding human interactions and impression management. Through numerous examples, he explains how humans in social settings try to read and shape the environment so they can act accordingly within it and ge…

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107: Institutionalized Rules and Formal Structures -- Meyer & Rowan (Part 2) 47:15

5M ago47:15

47:15

In the conclusion of this episode on Meyer and Rowan’s “Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony,” we review some of the studies that followed and how well the author’s arguments have stood the test of time. We explore contemporary examples that show how conformity to institutionalized rules is necessary for organizati…

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107: Institutionalized Rules and Formal Structures -- Meyer & Rowan (Part 1) 40:18

6M ago40:18

40:18

In this month’s episode, we discuss John Meyer and Brian Rowan’s famous 1977 article “Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony.” In it, they argued that “institutionalized products, services, techniques, policies, and programs function as powerful myths, and many organizations adopt them ceremonially” (p. 340), even if…

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107: Institutionalized Rules and Formal Structures -- Meyer & Rowan (Summary of Episode) 3:58

6M ago3:58

3:58

We explore John Meyer and Brian Rowan’s famous 1977 article “Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony.” Coming at a time when rational theories of organizing faced multiple challengers, Meyer and Rowan proposed that institutionalization of socially accepted (or demanded) norms played a significant role in driving forma…

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106: The study of organizations across disciplines -- A conversation from CASBS Summer Institute 59:23

7M ago59:23

59:23

We sit down with Woody Powell and Bob Gibbons who, since 2016, have been organizing the summer institute on Organizations and Their Effectiveness at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) in Stanford, California. We ask them to reflect on the history of CASBS and the summer institute, the value of fostering interdisciplinary c…

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105: Manifest & Latent Roles -- Alvin Gouldner (Part 2) 51:06

7M ago51:06

51:06

We conclude our discussion of Alvin Gouldner two-part article, “Cosmopolitans and locals: Toward an analysis of latent social roles.” In the second part of the article, Gouldner presented an initial proposal for a taxonomy of four types of locals and two types of cosmopolitans as a way kickstart the broader research agenda. However, this groundbrea…

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105: Manifest & Latent Roles -- Alvin Gouldner (Part 1) 40:42

8M ago40:42

40:42

Alvin Gouldner wrote the article, “Cosmopolitans and locals: Toward an analysis of latent social roles” in 1957 to propose that through the 1950s latent roles had been seriously overlooked by scholars. Manifest roles, described as those roles and role identities that are directly related to one’s defined position in the organizational structure, ha…

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105: Manifest & Latent Roles -- Alvin Gouldner (Summary of Episode) 3:47

8M ago3:47

3:47

We will discuss a two-part article by Alvin Gouldner titled “Cosmopolitans and Locals: Toward an Analysis of Latent Social Roles.” Before 1957, studies on work roles focused solely on manifest roles that emerged directly from the positions held. The hidden or unstated work roles had not been studies. Gouldner’s article argued that this was a major …

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104: Social Structure & Organizations -- Arthur Stinchcombe (Part 2) 42:12

9M ago42:12

42:12

We conclude our discussion of Arthur L. Stinchcombe’s book chapter, “Social Structure and Organizations,” by looking at the present-day impacts. As a foundational text, Stinchcombe’s work has influenced numerous subsequent studies and has been cited tens of thousands of times. In this second part, we discuss how while Stinchcombe’s primary focus wa…

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104: Social Structure & Organizations -- Arthur Stinchcombe (Part 1) 47:23

9M ago47:23

47:23

In a famous chapter in James G. March’s 1965 book, Handbook of Organizations, Arthur L. Stinchcombe laid out a case for expanding the study of organizations outward to include social structure bringing attention to innovation as well as imprinting and inertia. He posited that societies had significant effects on how organizations emerge and operate…

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104: Social Structure & Organizations -- Arthur Stinchcombe (Summary of Episode) 4:26

9M ago4:26

4:26

We will discuss the 1965 pathbreaking essay “Social Structure and Organizations” by Arthur L. Stinchcombe, where he articulated how societies had significant effects on organizations and that organizations in turn had effects on society. Listen to this discussion on a foundational text in organization studies.…

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103: Bringing Work Back In -- Barley & Kunda (Part 2) 49:55

9M ago49:55

49:55

We conclude our discussion of Barley & Kunda’s article in Organization Science titled “Bringing Work Back In.” We ask ourselves to what extent are the author’s argument still valid (in short, they certainly are) and how much more urgency there is to understand the work context given the rapid shifts in technology and the reweaving of the social fab…

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103: Bringing Work Back In -- Barley & Kunda (Part 1) 42:27

10M ago42:27

42:27

In their 2001 Organization Science article “Bringing Work Back In,” Steven Barley and Gideon Kunda lamented how the study of work, its organization, and its performance shifted after the 1950s. Work was the center of attention among the classic era of organization studies beginning with Frederic Taylor, but afterward, the focus shifted to post-bure…

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103: Bringing Work Back In -- Barley & Kunda (Summary of Episode) 3:55

10M ago3:55

3:55

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102: Executive Leadership -- Sloan's "My Years at General Motors" (Part 2) 42:49

10M ago42:49

42:49

We conclude our discussion of Alfred Sloan’s “My Years at General Motors” with a look at the post-war automotive boom to the present day and the introductions of electric cars, foreign manufacturers establishing operations within the US, and the future of transportation. We also discuss how newer emerging technologies and lean manufacturing initiat…

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102: Executive Leadership -- Sloan's "My Years at General Motors" (Part 1) 43:35

11M ago43:35

43:35

Alfred Sloan was President, Chairman, and CEO of General Motors from 1923 to 1956. His memoir “My Years at General Motors” tells his story about how he took a corporation consisting of several disparate and competing companies and shaped them into division that manufactured cars tailored to different segments of society. He constantly pursued and i…

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102: Executive Leadership -- Sloan's "My Years at General Motors" (Summary of Episode) 4:52

11M ago4:52

4:52

Coming soon! We will dive into the history of the automotive industry with a look at Alfred Sloan’s famous memoir, “My Years at General Motors.” The book chronicles the growth of General Motors and the industry from the 1920s through the 1950s and how the corporation overcame economic crises, World War II, and the post-war automobile boom. A terrif…

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101: The Motivation to Work -- Frederick Herzberg (Part 2) 40:27

12M ago40:27

40:27

We conclude our discussion of Frederick Herzberg’s book “The Motivation to Work” and the Two-Factor theory of job satisfaction it presents. What are the implications for contemporary managers and workers? To what extent do employers default to dealing with environmental issues to stem complaints rather than takes steps to improve performance and re…

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101: The Motivation to Work -- Frederick Herzberg (Part 1) 40:08

12M ago40:08

40:08

Frederick Herzberg’s “The Motivation to Work” presents the results of over 200 interviews with engineers and accountants working in the Pittsburgh area regarding what satisfied and dissatisfied them on the job. They would find that factors leading to satisfaction, such as achievement and performance, were very different than those leading to dissat…

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101: The Motivation to Work -- Frederick Herzberg (Summary of Episode) 4:48

12M ago4:48

4:48

Coming soon! We will discuss the studies that led to Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory of job satisfaction, published in the book “The Motivation to Work” with colleagues Bernard Mausner and Barbara Snyderman. The studies included interviews with over 200 engineers and accountants regarding what satisfied and dissatisfied them on the job.…

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100: The State of Organization Studies (100th episode special) 1:07:28

1y ago1:07:28

1:07:28

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99: Gendering in Organizations -- Joan Acker (Part 2) 47:17

1y ago47:17

47:17

We conclude our discussion of Joan Acker’s article “Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations,” from 1990 and bring the ideas of feminist theories of organization to contemporary times. From economic difficulties to the effects of the pandemic, workers are increasingly having to balance work with the need to provide care to thei…

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99: Gendering in Organizations -- Joan Acker (Part 1) 36:24

1y ago36:24

36:24

Joan Acker’s 1990 article “Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations” was a significant work in feminist theories of organizations. She charged that prior feminist research had wrongly assumed that organizational structures were gender neutral. Instead, everything about organizations from structures to symbols are inherently gen…

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99: Gendering in Organizations -- Joan Acker (Summary of Episode) 4:15

1y ago4:15

4:15

We will discuss Joan Acker’s article “Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations,” from 1990. This article signaled a clarion call to change the direction of organizational research to acknowledge the inherent gendering built into processes and structures in the workplace. This would allow for the development of organizations tha…

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98: Managing Innovation -- Burns & Stalker (Part 2) 49:51

1y ago49:51

49:51

We conclude our discussion of the classic book The Management of Innovation from Tom Burns and G. M. Stalker with a look at contemporary myths of innovation, such as the idea that innovation can or should be outsourced to small “start-up” style firms or that innovators or the process of innovation should be separated from the rest of the organizati…

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98: Managing Innovation -- Burns & Stalker (Part 1) 47:07

1y ago47:07

47:07

Why do firms seemingly have difficulties converting new ideas into goods or services? The answer is in the classic book The Management of Innovation from Tom Burns and G. M. Stalker that explored the difficulties that firms, industries, and even nations had in innovating due to the disruptions that it brings to power structures and social fabric in…

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98: Managing Innovation -- Burns & Stalker (Summary of Episode) 4:02

1y ago4:02

4:02

Coming soon! We will discuss The Management of Innovation from Tom Burns and G. M. Stalker, a classic of innovation theory and the source of an important theoretical construct – the mechanistic and organic systems of management. Their aim was to understand the fit of these systems with different conditions and the conflict and barriers that organiz…

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97: Social Change & Organization -- Invictus (Part 2) 42:55

1y ago42:55

42:55

We conclude our discussion of Invictus by looking through an organizational perspective at sports, social change, and the ways leaders manage organizations to build inclusive cultures. While sports can unite people, we also discuss how sports can also create or exacerbate tensions. How does one reap the possible benefits of sport and connect it to …

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97: Social Change & Organization -- Invictus (Part 1) 38:18

1+ y ago38:18

38:18

The 2009 film Invictus tells the story of how the first post-Apartheid President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, used sports as a unifying force to overcome lingering and bitter racial divides in the nation. The movie and the real-life events that inspired it are powerful. We will look at it through an organizational lens and discuss insights rela…

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97: Social Change & Organization -- Invictus (Summary of Episode) 4:16

1+ y ago4:16

4:16

We go to the movies – looking at the 2009 film Invictus through an organizational lens. It tells the story of Nelson Mandela from the time of assuming the Presidency of South Africa to the nation’s hosting of the 1995 Rugby World Cup. How did Mandela use sport to unite a bitterly divided nation and what insights does this story provide for manageme…

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96: Informating at Work -- Shoshana Zuboff (Part 2) 44:06

1+ y ago44:06

44:06

We conclude our discussion of Zuboff’s "In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power" by projecting her conclusions to the present day. On the one hand, many of her findings about the creative ways that management reasserts its authority are still relevant today, but she had also offered strategies for integrating new technologies …

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96: Informating at Work -- Shoshana Zuboff (Part 1) 42:39

1+ y ago42:39

42:39

This month, we discuss Shoshana Zuboff’s "In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power" that examines several cases of organizations introducing information technologies in the workplace hoping to improve organizational performance, transparency, and collaboration but instead dehumanized the workplace and ushered in new ways of man…

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96: Informating at Work -- Shoshana Zuboff (Summary of Episode) 4:58

1+ y ago4:58

4:58

Coming soon! We will discuss Shoshana Zuboff’s ethnographic study of how work changed with the introduction of information technologies in the 1980s. "In the Age of the Smart Machine" discusses how computers changed the meaning of work for both front line industrial workers and their managers, telling a rich cautionary tale about how these technolo…

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95: Labor-Management Relations -- Tom Lupton (Part 2) 39:19

1+ y ago39:19

39:19

We conclude our discussion of Lupton’s "On the Shop Floor" by looking at both the importance of the study as a classic example of ethnography and the benefits of participant-observation, followed by the application of Lupton’s findings in the modern post-pandemic workplace. To what extent do contemporary concerns such as the “great resignation” or …

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95: Labor-Management Relations -- Tom Lupton (Part 1) 46:35

1+ y ago46:35

46:35

This month, we discuss examine Lupton’s famous study of worker-management relations, On the Shop Floor: Two Studies of Workshop Organization and Output published in 1963. Tom Lupton spent 12 months as a factor worker in two different settings examining why workers intentionally worked at a level below management expectations. He found that social s…

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